WiFibased

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Internet
For many people the internet is a wonderful place and a technology which they use for many hours a
day. One of the core protocols of the internet, and the name is quite on the spot, the Internet Protocol.
In particular IPv4, version 4, forms a very important component of the internet as we know it nowadays.
The Internet Protocol is the basic communication protocol of both almost all local (eg. home or office
environment) networks (LAN) and the internet. The protocol basically handles the addressing of data
packets so that it can reach the right destination. The Internet Protocol (IP) is tightly coupled with the
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). These are placed on top
of IP to provide higher layer services like message segmentation and in case of TCP in order delivery
guarantees.
The address size used in IPv4 is 32 bit, offering roughly (2 to the power of 32) 4.294.967.296 unique
addresses. Although 4 billion unique addresses seems a lot and really did when the protocol was
designed in the early 1970s it is not that much if you consider how many people are connected to the
internet and often not limited by just one device. The address space of IPv4 gets or even already is
exhausted. The next version of the Internet Protocol in line is version 6: IPv6. Instead of 32 bits it uses
128 bits to store addresses. This gives the option for much more unique addresses and thereby more
devices connected to the internet. More details will covered in later sections.
Over the past decade(s), the world has become increasingly mobile. Traditional ways of networking
have been proven inadequate to meet the challenges posed by our new collective lifestyle. If users
must be connected to a network by physical cables, their movement is dramatically reduced. Wireless
connectivity, however, poses no such restriction and allows far more freedom of movement on the part
of the network user. Not so many years ago you had to use a dial-up modem in order to connect to
the internet. Internet connections have evolved extended since the dial-up modem. In this extend most
people nowadays associate the word “WiFi” with wireless internet instead of the name it actually is of the
most commonly used technology for wireless networking. A wireless network connection that provides
always on internet connectivity has become so common for (western) societies that a technology name
implies it.
Considering above statements it is not very strange to combine IPv6 with WiFi. However is this as
straight forward as it sounds and what are the implications? In this report I will try to assess this.
1.2 Research
The goal of my research and report is to evaluate the impact and possibilities of IPv6 when deploying
on a WiFi-based wireless network.
This leads to the main research question:
What is the impact of IPv6 on a WiFi-based network?
This main research question is too broad for the actual research work and needs refinement, for which
some ground work and assumptions are required. In order to further specify my research first some
background information is needed, which is given in chapter 2. In addition preliminary observations will
help to understand the scope of the question and determine potential issues. Combining this information
will help to narrow down the research question in chapter 3.
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